Imagine God asked you to go on vacation with Him. Not next year, not tomorrow, no, right now. You would not know where you’d go to, how it looked like, and what might happen to you, however, you could be sure that God would care for everything you might ever need and that He would give you perfect peace 24/7 if you trust in Him (Is 26:3). Furthermore, God told you that you could stay there with Him, even forever. “Pipe dreams,” one might say, “Interesting,” might add another. These two responses certainly came from adults who not only lost their illusions, which might be a good thing, but maybe, they also lost their hope and dreams. Now imagine God asked a little child this very same question. How would he or she react? I think we know the answer…

Do we like surprises? I admit that I do not like them that much; even pleasant surprises sometimes stress me out. 😉 Thank God, I read a devotional by Oswald Chambers in which he explains our very problem as adults (see below). We know if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven, we need to become like little children again. But how do we get there? Lately I have been thinking that this change comes through surrendering all those areas in my life I know I cannot change. As soon as God reveals another vulnerable spot in my soul, I hear Him often say, “Let it be there, I will take it away.” At first I argued a bit with Him, saying that I could not surrender, I did not even know HOW! Yet listening a bit closer to His still small voice, I have heard Him whispering, again and again, “Leave it all up to Me!” Just this evening, as I was confronted with another one of my “old” triggers ( Ouch! 😛 ) and I had tried to do everything to NOT react as usual, God told me same thing, “Leave it ALL up to Me!” As I still wondered what He might have meant, I felt a deep overwhelming calmness, both inside me and apparently somehow around me too, that immediately ensued His words. At the same time, I felt that the desired change of my heart and mind had begun (that is, the vulnerability slowly, but continually alleviated) without me doing ANYTHING about it. Brothers and sisters, THAT was a miracle to me!!! 🙂
But now I do not want to withhold Oswald Chambers’ devotional from you.

Our natural inclination is to be so precise– trying always to forecast accurately what will happen next– that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We think that we must reach some predetermined goal, but that is not the nature of the spiritual life. The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Consequently, we do not put down roots. Our common sense says, “Well, what if I were in that circumstance?” We cannot presume to see ourselves in any circumstance in which we have never been.

Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life– gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises. When we become simply a promoter or a defender of a particular belief, something within us dies. That is not believing God– it is only believing our belief about Him. Jesus said, “…unless you…become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3). The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, “…believe also in Me” (John 14:1), not, “Believe certain things about Me”. Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in– but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him.

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37 thoughts on “Becoming Like Little Children”

Uncertainty… No, Susanne, I do not like that either, yet God seems to demand that we walk in it with Him by faith. Imagine how much uncertainty that the disciples experience as they walked with Jesus! They never knew what He was going to say or do next and who in authority He was going to make mad next either with them often thinking, “This guy is going to get us all killed!”

I love this quote by O. C.

Jesus said, “…unless you…become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3). The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, “…believe also in Me” (John 14:1), not, “Believe certain things about Me”. Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in– but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him.

I remember how often as a young Catholic I heard the term, “a member of THE Faith” as if faith was an organization or system of belief. Yet, I later found that to belong to a certain Protestant denominations, it was required to also adhere to a certain list of beliefs that had nothing to do with trusting in God! But here in the gospels we see Jesus constantly messing with the belief structure of the Jews. They, being “THE People of God,” had it all figured out as to how Messiah would act and what He would do AND JESUS DID NOT FIT THEIR MOLD! In fact He blew their mold all to hell… and I quote,

“For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:43-44 RSVA)

We can be sure of one thing if we go on to follow Jesus, not one stone of our dearly held creeds will be left unchallenged. God will not be conformed to our religious mindsets! We must once again become as little children with one another. Amen.

“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” (Hosea 6:3, KJV).

I love your sense of humor, Michael. The description of how His disciples might have felt with our ever surprising Lord was truly funny! 😀

Also, I found O.C. nailed it here once again. What I like about his writings although I do not necessarily always agree with his views which appear to be quite strict at times, is that you immediately know that he KNEW what he was speaking of. He always described his very own experiences with the Lord. That makes his devotionals which I often cite on here vivid and thus attractive to me.

I am glad that Jesus messed up with rigid religious beliefs and revealed instead that it was ALL about Him. Whether we disagree with one another or not is not that important since God leads us through His Spirit into all the truth. Yes, what is still “religious” in us needs to be taken away by Him. May He do so. Amen to your prayer, my dear brother. ❤

Yes, dear Susanne, like Hosea said, “We shall KNOW IF we FOLLOW ON TO KNOW…” We can be sure the the image we have of God today will not be large enough for Him to fit in it tomorrow if we continue to follow HIM and grow.

It is sad how dogmatic religious people (including us) can get and how it stops their growth IN Christ as a result. And HERE is another challenge! When we are confronted with one of these people, how will WE react? Will we become just as dogmatic from our God given view point we are in for this moment?

I think becoming as a little child also lets us see the “little child” in others, don’t you think? ❤

YES! That is a great insight, Michael, that God makes us see the little child in others too. May He truly open our still closed eyes as to our own dogmatism! Amen.

By the way, when I am confronted with religious people, I know that I can only fight or flight unless God helps and heals me (my still religious triggers). Oh, to be so dependent on God, who would have thought that faith is all about dependence? 🙄

Ken, I think that this is part of what all these trials are about, so we will learn to play together and enjoy each other IN Christ without constantly picking fly crap out of the pepper, looking for our doctrinal differences. 🙂

Yes, they say that his hymns were set to the tunes of tavern songs.. and he spent every Saturday night in the local pub and THAT was why he set the time of his service at 11AM on Sunday instead of earlier. 🙂

Ah, I love this post and the miracle you described. I too have just let go and let God, rather then trying to resist or heal something myself. Instantly I have received that sense of peace and calm that you described and I just know that He is at work, that it is going to be okay.

To be like a child is to be in a state of receiving rather than resisting. We are to be in a nearly perpetual state of delight, excited about what is coming our way. If you find a good hill, don’t try to analyze it, just enjoy the gift you’ve been given and tumble down it! 😉

Grace and mercy are like that, they are gifts we are to receive. The adult part of us immediately starts thinking about trying to pay that back, about how our works are so important. I find it really fascinating that Christ washed His disciples feet, because that puts one in a position of receiving, even when we know we are unworthy. It’s an uncomfortable position to be in, a state of receiving.

The joy that kids often have, the curiousity and excitement, they don’t even really have to give anything, just their presence tends to bring light to a room. That’s kind of how I perceive it, the more we become like children the more Christ just spills out of us, too, and onto other people.

Indeed, the position of simply “receiving” is a challenge for the adult mind although we might already know that there has always been an inner child in us that did not want to grow up. Instead, God made us that way so that we might finally find out that we should become His children and that we may depend on Him – always.

I love your thoughts on kids not really having something to give, however, “just their presence tends to bring light to a room. That’s kind of how I perceive it, the more we become like children the more Christ just spills out of us, too, and onto other people.”

Children can be happy w/ little things. A box becomes a spaceship, or a television set, or a time machine. A stick becomes a sword. Grown-ups believe they “have to have” two cars, and four-bedroom house in an upscale neighborhood to be happy. Our trust shifts from God to material things and our power to acquire them.

Yet children can weather big things — disaster, poverty, loss — w/ the help of the adults they love. Love is their shield, their bulwark against the world. Our challenge as adults is to trust the Lord to the same extent children trust us. To trust Him despite what we know about the world that children don’t.

Oh, what a wonderful comment, dear Anna! Filled with wisdom and truth!! ⭐

Yes, it is difficult to trust in God, both because we know how evil this world is and, I might add, because we are not sure what trials God has in store for us, that is, whether we will like it or not where He pulls us through. It seems to me being the suspicion of the Old Adam/Eve again. Can we really trust God or is there something good He hides from us, as Eve might have thought, confronted with the serpent’s cunning temptation?

Susanne, I love the title, becoming like little children. We, so early in life, lose our child likeness. I became a Christian at age 7. I don’t remember ever thinking at that time in my life that I needed to be as a child in the Kingdom of God. As far back as I can remember, I have been more of the mind set of needing to be an adult in the Kingdom of God. My quest being that He could trust me. Perhaps the greater quest and more pleasing to Him would be that I trust Him.

I am like you; I also thought I had to be an adult in the kingdom of God. It should be freeing to see that the opposite is true, but I am still struggling with letting of my “grown up mindset”. 😉 Trusting Him is NOT easy, is it? At least for me, I would love to understand His ways and it would be easier if He announced what He was going to do. But alas, that is not the way the cookie crumbles in the kingdom of God… 🙄

To answer Pat’s statement about her “BORN AGAIN” experience at age 7. Mine: age 9. The main thing I remember sometime later we had Bible verse bees. So, I memorizes scripture to compete. The other thing is to attend VACATION BIBLE SCHOOLS. We sang: : B-I-B-L E: That is good enough for me! I stand on the WORD of GOD, the B-I-B-L-E. Now, I am reading my autobiographical writings. I came across about playing parts in Christmas plays. Once, I played a shepherd, also once a wise man. We were dressed in robes Once, we had a live baby playing baby JESUS.

1st Peter 2 v 2″ “AS NEWBORN BABIES, DESIRE THE PURE MILK OF THE WORD
THAT YOU MAY GROW THERE BY.”
BABIES CRY FOR FOOD AND TO BE HELD. THE SCRIPTURES ARE FULL OF
GOD’S CHILDREN CRYING OUT TO HIM FOR HELP: A few:
Ps 34 V 15: “to the righteous: ‘HIS EARS ARE OPEN TO THE CRIES.
Ps 106 v 44.”OUR FATHERS IN EGYPT DID NOT UNDERSTAND GOD’S
WONDERS NOR REMEMBER HIS MULTITUDE OF MERCIES. YET, GOD
REGARDED THEIR CRIES. A baby does not understand the parents help!
Ps. 145 v 19: “GOD WILL FULFILL THE DESIRES OF THOSE WHO FEAR HIM.
HE WILL HEAR THEIR CRIES AND SAVE THEM.’
Cries to be held: There are many Christian songs about experiencing God’s
Embrace: “I YIELDED TO HIS TENDER EMBRACE AND FAITH TAKING HOLD OF THE WORD… THE HAVEN OF REST IS MY LORD.”
I WILL ARISE AND GO TO JESUS! HE WILL EMBRACE ME IN HIS ARMS…”
to Jesus: .”.BE BLESSED WITH OUR PRAISE AS WE GLORY IN YOUR EMBRACE
AS YOUR PRESENCE NOW FILLS THIS PLACE!”

2 SONGS THAT NOW COME TO ME ABOUT UNDERSTAND ONE: “MANY THINGS
ABOUT TOMMOROW, I CAN’T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND: BUT I KNOW WHO HOLDS TOMORROW AND I KNOW WHO HOLDS MY HAND.” “WE’LL UNDER-
STAND IT ALL BY AND BY!” THESE SONG WRITERS ACCEPT THE FACT THAT
THEY LIVE BY FAITH IN GOD WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING ALL ABOUT LIFE.

There is a verse that is my favorite with “We will understand it better by and by”:
“TRIALS DARK ON EVERY HAND AND WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND ALL
THE WAYS THAT GOD WILL LEAD US TO THE BLESSED PROMISE LAND!
BUT HE GUIDES US WITH HIS EYE AND WE’LL FOLLOW TILL WE DIE!
FOR WE’LL UNDERSTAND IT BETTER BY AND BY. BY AND BY WHEN THE MORNING COMES , WHEN ALL THE SAINTS OF GOD ARE GATHERED HOME: WE WILL TELL THE STORY HOW WE’VE OVERCOME. WE WILL UNDERSTAND
IT BETTER BY AND BY!”
Ps.32 v 8: I WILL INSTRUCT YOU AND TEACH YOU IN THE WAY YOU SHOULD GO;” I WILL GUIDE YOU WITH MY EYE!”

Very good, Bernie. Even now I see that many trials in the past made sense since I saw the outcome in my life later (and these are only my human thoughts about God’s doing). Also, I too am sure that we will understand His dealing with us over time, even perfectly when we see Him face to face, when He wipes away every tear from our eyes. And then, He will make us forget what once tormented us, then, when all things are being made anew in Christ (Rev 21:5).

JUST YESTERDAY I THOUGHT ONCE AGAIN: FOR 10 YEARS PAT HAD PROBLEMS WITHIN THE DAY BY DAY DECISIONS IN OUR CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. BECAUSE THE BIBLE TEACHING ON SUNDAY FED US BOTH. I KEPT THINKING THAT PAT WOULD UNDERSTAND. I JUST OVERLOOKED THE PROBLEMS. LOOKING BACK ALL THE BAD DECISIONS I MADE BECAME CLEAR..THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED AT 10 YEARS, WE LEFT THIS CHURCH.
I AM SHARING THIS WITH YOU BECAUSE I LOOK BACK ON THE SITUATION I MADE THE THING I WANTED : AS A MOTTO FOR ME: ( I WANT TO BE FREE IN 1983.) IN AUGUST WITH THIS, (WE GOT FREE OF THE PROBLEMS!”) GOD WAS GRACIOUS FOR US BECAUSE WITH THE NEXT CHURCH WE ATTENDED, THERE WAS A HOLY SPIRIT LED WOMEN’S PRAYER GROUP. SHE WAS HEALED OF THE BROKEN HEART SHE EXPERIENCED IN THE PREVIOUS SITUATION!

Have you known about ‘SPELLING BEES” Where those competing about the spelling of words? The spellers continue to spell more difficult words until one wins. The BIBLE BEES: one competes with others by the moderater gives the source and they quote the verse. The one who gives these verses right longer than the others wins.

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